Michel Jourdain Jr back to Indianapolis 500 with Rahal team

The Mexican, who won two Champ Car races for Rahal in 2003, finished 19th at Indianapolis last year.

Team co-owner Bobby Rahal said that the experience will serve as a valuable platform for a better result this time around.

"Last year, for his first race back after a number of years out of an IndyCar, he did a very good job," said Rahal.

"We made a bad pit call last year and let him down, frankly, which put him a lap down.

"He quickly got with the programme at Indy, and was running competitively in the race, and I think that one year later most of the rust is off and he will be much more prepared because he knows what to expect.

"From a car standpoint, we should be even more competitive than we were last year, so I am really pleased to have Michel back."

Jourdain will run alongside regular drivers Graham Rahal and James Jakes, and said that having two team-mates to work with will help him to get up to speed.

"It has been a year since I have been in the car, but I will take the same strategy as last year and build up speed little by little," he said.

"I'm sure the car will be really good, and with it being a three-car team we should be able to progress much faster.

"I'm happy to be working with Bobby and the guys again, as well as with Bruno [Couprie] my engineer, who I worked with last year."